Who says driving here is crazy? Everyone - The Boston GlobeJohn Tobin, a district councilor from West Roxbury, is printing hundreds of red-and-white signs that say, "Slow Down Boston," and is mounting a campaign to reverse a half-century of bad habits. Paying for the printing of 500 signs with campaign funds, Tobin said he'll provide them free of charge to anyone willing to post them along problem streets.

City officials are also drafting a traffic-calming plan, he said, but are proceeding slowly to avoid mistakes. While speed bumps slow traffic, he said, they can also cause accidents. Drivers could lose control and veer into other cars or jump the curb and endanger pedestrians on the sidewalk. Devices that flash motorists' speed can actually tempt drivers to speed up, he said.

"We put a speed board on Commonwealth Avenue, and people were seeing how high they could get the numbers," Tinlin said.

I wonder what type of speed board the city was using. Many types of these have a "maximum display speed" like this one made by 3M. Hopefully next time the city tries this they will use a more full-featured model.